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Need Editor(S) And Proofreader(S) For Stories


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I don't know how many other writers and authors out there would be interested but I'd like to recruit some editors and proofreaders to help clean up and make my stories more presentable, easier to read and generally a better product.

I'm sure other writers and authors would appreciate the same. Feel free to chime in if you like. ;)

In return for your editing and proofreading, you would be the first to read a new story and possibly help shape the direction and flow of the story.

Also, I'd be willing to proofread and perform minor edits within my field of interest, primarily DL and SciFi topics.

I would propose that writers and editors agree on a format, such as .rtf, .txt or .doc or other common formats that are mutually agreeable.

Chime in!

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Cool, I'm trying to submit as much of my old stuff to Literotica.com but finding it hard to get any volunteer editors on there to read anything that has a whiff of diapers or messing. I never thought I was heavy into the dirty end of the story but I felt it fair to warn them it might have some content of that nature.

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Botox, I've got to say I never thought your writing needed any editing!

At the time I write them, I'd agree but after being away from a story for a few months, I find all kinds of errors myself. They say you can't proofread your own work. In school I always got counted off for simple mistakes even when it was apparent I knew the material. Really pissed me off when it wasn't an English paper that was marked down for grammar and/or spelling in the pre-PC and word processing software days. I learned to despise school long before I knew education wasn't what they were doing to me. But that's another topic all together.

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At the time I write them, I'd agree but after being away from a story for a few months, I find all kinds of errors myself. They say you can't proofread your own work. In school I always got counted off for simple mistakes even when it was apparent I knew the material. Really pissed me off when it wasn't an English paper that was marked down for grammar and/or spelling in the pre-PC and word processing software days. I learned to despise school long before I knew education wasn't what they were doing to me. But that's another topic all together.

I know I have the same trouble when it comes to proofreading my own stories. I find it helps to put away the story after writing a new part, then coming back a day later and rereading it carefully (word for word, if necessary).

That said, if you need someone with a lot of editing experience, I'd be glad to help out, too.

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I don't know how many other writers and authors out there would be interested but I'd like to recruit some editors and proofreaders to help clean up and make my stories more presentable, easier to read and generally a better product.

I'm sure other writers and authors would appreciate the same. Feel free to chime in if you like. ;)

In return for your editing and proofreading, you would be the first to read a new story and possibly help shape the direction and flow of the story.

Also, I'd be willing to proofread and perform minor edits within my field of interest, primarily DL and SciFi topics.

I would propose that writers and editors agree on a format, such as .rtf, .txt or .doc or other common formats that are mutually agreeable.

Chime in!

Okay, so what is in all this for the editors?

To be blunt, anyone who has the education and skills to edit ABDL stories can very well write them.

Please consider the necessary skills and experience you expect in editors.

Perhaps this is why Daily Diapers does not have a whole list of people willing to decipher "word salad" presented as a story.

So, perhaps the authors who desire help with editing should go out of their way to be nice to prospective editors.

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I think, Angela, that the point is to build something of a "community" of authors willing to help proof and/or edit each others' stuff.

I do wonder, however, if the OP understands the difference between a "proofer" and an "editor"...

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Okay, so what is in all this for the editors?

To be blunt, anyone who has the education and skills to edit ABDL stories can very well write them.

Please consider the necessary skills and experience you expect in editors.

Perhaps this is why Daily Diapers does not have a whole list of people willing to decipher "word salad" presented as a story.

So, perhaps the authors who desire help with editing should go out of their way to be nice to prospective editors.

Did I do anything that wasn't nice to a prospective editor? I'm also not sure my stories are word salad as I generally give them 2-3 passes before I toss them at the forums. As for what is in it for the editor, what would an editor want? I'm not getting a penny for what I've written, never asked for a single cent, and I'm willing to read other people's stories as payback. If the editor likes my stories, so much the better.

I think, Angela, that the point is to build something of a "community" of authors willing to help proof and/or edit each others' stuff.

I do wonder, however, if the OP understands the difference between a "proofer" and an "editor"...

Hah, Hell No! I know nothing about writing. I can barely put two words together in the proper tense some days. I know that proofreading is correcting the simple stuff. I have no real idea what an editor does and I have one in the family somewhere within the cousins.

I'm just trying to provide, and help others provide, a better product for others to read. All for free to help DailyDiapers.com have the best stories available!

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I see the difference between proofreading and editing and I see in betweens as well. Spelling, verb agreement, punctuation (w/in limits), continuity, etc. That's one thing. I'm fine with doing that. Often when I've found a story online that intrigues me, I'll copy it to my own files and then as I read through it, correct those sorts of things that stick out to me as I read.

Then there's the thought of saying, such and such a character shouldn't be put in the crib now; the introduction to your story is just too unbelievable; you aren't developing that character quickly enough (or too quickly...or in too much/little detail). I'd rather not do that. I'm not sure that's something I'm good at myself.

Someone like Botox seems to me to have great skills in creating and writing a story. As for the word salads - those stories which don't seem to make much sense at all - I'd rather not work with them. There are some stories I'll try to wade through in spite of atrocious grammar and sentence construction, but often I'll walk away. If I really love the concept of the story, maybe I'd steal it and write my own story along those lines.

I've written some stories, but whether they are any good or not is a matter for readers to decide. I'm not so sure they are very good and so I don't want to get involved in trying to steer the creative process. That's probably not my skill.

As for Botox and his approach to looking for editors, I see absolutely no indication that Botox has been anything but nice. Angela, maybe I'm missing your point entirely. Your premise I feel is correct; including being nice to prospective editors. I may be missing your reasons for coming to your conclusion. And I'm not quite understanding your motivation in writing - not questioning, but just not sensing what it is.

JDL, your stories are excellent as well and I always enjoy reading them. When I write a story, I won't start posting it until I'm done because I know that I'll continually re-read, re-think and re-write. Others are much better at writing and don't need to do that. What I have learned is that even after several re-writes I am still able to find changes I'd like to make.

Time is a big help; another pair of eyes - and another mind - is, I think, an even bigger help. The compatibility of the pairing of writer and proofer/editor is a critical part in that as well. Someone who would be a great proofer for A could not begin to work with B.

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Botox, I am not attacking you or anyone. In fact, you provide well edited stories.

My point is that as you present your concept of asking for editorial help, as I interpreted that, you are not considering the needs of the prospective editors.

Proof reading itself is complicated. In a professional setting, from the start of a project the author, publisher and assigned editor agree on the style book to be used. Without such agreement it is unclear which alternative spellings will be preferred and which system of punctuation and capitalization will be used. Until such an agreement is in place, how can proof reading be performed?

Assuming there is agreement on the style book, then the proof reader marks spelling and so on differing from the style book, usually providing in the margin notes the style book preferences. However, the proof reader does not actually make any changes.

After the author has reviewed the proof reader's mark-up of the manuscript, and indicated agreement or disagreement, then the marked-up manuscript is passed to a copy editor who provides detailed instructions to the compositors. Those the the people who set the type. In the case of informal on-line publishing the copy-editor probably is the compositor.

There is another kind of editing less concerned with details of copy compliance with the agreed style book. This is called "substantive editing".

Substantive editing in publishing starts as the writing project begins. It shapes story development. It looks out for illogical plot developments. Often when dealing with reader-created stories, it is the substantive editing that causes the most hurt feelings for the editor and author. However, until there is agreement on the substantive editing it is pointless to take the energy to read proof or copy edit.

Daily Diapers does not have a style book. Another diaper-related website seemed to only know about Elements of Style. Unfortunately even if EoS was useful when revised by EB White in 1940, it was never universally accepted and by now is over 70 years out of date.

Perhaps the first step the committee proposed by Botox and others should do is write the Daily Diapers Style Book. Circa 1938 EB White was perhaps the most successful living author of literature for children. He also wrote extensively for "The New Yorker" where his wife Katherine A White was the Chief Copy Editor. Just remember that language, especially English, is not static. It reflects the times.

Until the owner, moderators and authors of DD agree on a style book, how can volunteer editors work their magic?

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Well, just forget it then. I'm not making anything on this. It was never done for income potential and this sounds WAY more like work than a hobby. I do this to unwind, to have a thought that doesn't include me rebooting a server or rebuilding a RAID array and most of all to have a good time.

I'm a do-er and not one to talk it to death. I suppose it was foolish of me to think anyone would be able to just read a story, give some feedback, note the spelling errors and shot back a reply.

I'll just keep doing what I'm doing and you folks can take it or leave it. My feelings don't get hurt easily but I do slink into apathy at the drop of a hat and right now, I just don't care about all the extra mumbo jumbo just to have someone look a story over and see if it makes sense and that I've gotten the proper "your" and "you're" in the right places.

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Botox, I am not attacking you or anyone. In fact, you provide well edited stories.

My point is that as you present your concept of asking for editorial help, as I interpreted that, you are not considering the needs of the prospective editors.

Proof reading itself is complicated. In a professional setting, from the start of a project the author, publisher and assigned editor agree on the style book to be used. Without such agreement it is unclear which alternative spellings will be preferred and which system of punctuation and capitalization will be used. Until such an agreement is in place, how can proof reading be performed?

Assuming there is agreement on the style book, then the proof reader marks spelling and so on differing from the style book, usually providing in the margin notes the style book preferences. However, the proof reader does not actually make any changes.

After the author has reviewed the proof reader's mark-up of the manuscript, and indicated agreement or disagreement, then the marked-up manuscript is passed to a copy editor who provides detailed instructions to the compositors. Those the the people who set the type. In the case of informal on-line publishing the copy-editor probably is the compositor.

There is another kind of editing less concerned with details of copy compliance with the agreed style book. This is called "substantive editing".

Substantive editing in publishing starts as the writing project begins. It shapes story development. It looks out for illogical plot developments. Often when dealing with reader-created stories, it is the substantive editing that causes the most hurt feelings for the editor and author. However, until there is agreement on the substantive editing it is pointless to take the energy to read proof or copy edit.

Daily Diapers does not have a style book. Another diaper-related website seemed to only know about Elements of Style. Unfortunately even if EoS was useful when revised by EB White in 1940, it was never universally accepted and by now is over 70 years out of date.

Perhaps the first step the committee proposed by Botox and others should do is write the Daily Diapers Style Book. Circa 1938 EB White was perhaps the most successful living author of literature for children. He also wrote extensively for "The New Yorker" where his wife Katherine A White was the Chief Copy Editor. Just remember that language, especially English, is not static. It reflects the times.

Until the owner, moderators and authors of DD agree on a style book, how can volunteer editors work their magic?

This post is beyond ridiculous.

He's asking for a couple of people who would be willing to proofread other writers stories and check for basic grammar and spelling errors, and have their own stories checked in return. You're making a nuclear bomb out of a grain of sand. We don't need a style book for the damn english language in a forum of diaper stories. It's not hard to understand. Read it, correct any misspelled words or grammar errors, tell the writer what you did and didn't like, and if anything didn't make sense, send it back. Period.

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Okay, so if an author and a volunteer editor can come to an agreement as to style of spelling and grammar, then they can work together.

Without such agreement, then who is to say what constitutes basic spelling and grammar errors?

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Okay, so if an author and a volunteer editor can come to an agreement as to style of spelling and grammar, then they can work together.

Without such agreement, then who is to say what constitutes basic spelling and grammar errors?

I'd say it is like porn, I can't define it but I know it when I see it. I have no idea what a style sheet is and wouldn't conform to it if I did since I'm a nonconformist at heart, if I had a heart, which I've been told I don't. Heartless bastard was the particular phrase used but that's another story that won't get edited or proofread.

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Angela, I know where you're trying to go with this, and I'm well experienced with the issues of style (I was a transcriptionist for 5 years), but I don't get the impression BoTox is after anything more than just a congregate of authors helping each other out by doing quick proofs (knocking out obvious and indisputable errors) and making suggestions regarding content.

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Angela, I know where you're trying to go with this, and I'm well experienced with the issues of style (I was a transcriptionist for 5 years), but I don't get the impression BoTox is after anything more than just a congregate of authors helping each other out by doing quick proofs (knocking out obvious and indisputable errors) and making suggestions regarding content.

A long time ago, at a website no longer with us, I was recruited to write stories in exchange for content based solely on the few stories I had posted to wetset.net. The person that recruited me had me send my rough drafts. Ideas were inserted to fluff them up and we'd bounce ideas around. I wrote the content to suit and we did a few back and forths to iron out the flow and such. After a dozen stories, the friend just dropped off the face of the earth. I missed them but wrote a dozen more stories.

I've since bumped into a few folks that I have read their stories, made suggestions, and it has all gone quite smoothly. No expectations of anything grand and no promises of award winning stories to take your breath away. Just a bunch of folks having fun with our mutual interest. Others have read my stories and have helped with the obvious.

This isn't a business and I certainly hope none think this will turn into some publishing house that churns out the next J.K.Rowling clone!

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So, back on topic. Those willing to read stories and give feedback, spelling corrections, etc, should denotes as such. Not sure where or how we should go about it.

Those with stories to have read, should denote it also.

I will read stories, do what I can. I also have stories to be looked over.

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OK, so here is the first experiment. I'll start a new post, attach a file. It is in word format and I have track changes turned on. You can read it, post that you are working on it and then post a reply story with the changes in track mode and we can discuss them if needed.

Look for: Story to Edit: There Once Was A Girl

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